festemvsFestesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: festem is a adjective, Festes is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“festem” is an adjective and “Festes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#27,721
“festem” frequency rank
#9,901
“Festes” frequency rank
37622
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature festem Festes
Definition Dativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs fest Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Fest

Where the eye mixes festem and Festes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
festem
6 ch
Festes

Why the eye confuses festem with Festes

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: festem is [ˈfɛstəm] while Festes is [ˈfɛstəs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - m in “festem” becomes s in “Festes”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37622, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

festem is recorded at frequency rank #27,721, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈfɛstəm]. Festes is at rank #9,901, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfɛstəs].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 37622, this pair ranks #1,585,333 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of festem vs Festes

Shared letters: efst. Private to "festem": m. Private to "Festes": -.

"festem" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Festes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • festemefstem · fesetm · fesstem · festemm · festme · festtem · fetsem · ffestem
  • Festesefstes · fesets · fesstes · festess · festse · festtes · fetses · ffestes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "festem" and "Festes" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "festem" is an adjective and "Festes" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "festem" or "Festes" show up more?
"Festes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,901 in our German list, against #27,721 for "festem". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "festem" and "Festes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "festem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Festes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,585,333 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "festem" and "Festes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fessel vs festem". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,585,333 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list